


Gryffindor Courage

by koboldspucke



Category: Derry Girls (TV)
Genre: Accidental Handholding, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Dancing, Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Yule Ball (Harry Potter), all further chapters are increasing multiples of 100 words but not drabbles as such anymore, first chapter is an actual drabble, second chapter is two drabbles, the drabble tag is sort of out of date now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26510215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koboldspucke/pseuds/koboldspucke
Summary: Michelle has asked Clare to be her date to the Yule ball.
Relationships: Clare Devlin/Michelle Mallon
Comments: 14
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FredTheDinosaur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FredTheDinosaur/gifts).



> I'm trying to start writing rather than just reading things, so I'm starting with 100 word exactly drabbles. Might write further ones in this same story.
> 
> First prompt by my lovely wife was: Clare/Michelle, Hogwarts au, fake dating, "you have the emotional capacity of a brick"

"So, you asked Clare then? Finally some Gryffindor courage."

"Courage? It's not like real, you prick. Just, when we went past the Ravenclaw table Jenny was saying _obviously_ Clare doesn't have a date to the Yule ball and trying to fob some Hufflepuff off on her. Erin looked like she was going to hex her and I can't decide who gets to take me anyway so I stepped in..."

"Maybe Clare should know that?"

"You idiot, she fancies someone, some straight lass, she told me last week, she doesn't want me."

"You have the emotional capacity of a brick, Michelle!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will they talk about it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double Drabble!

James _was_ a prick but it couldn't hurt to check whether Clare _actually_ wanted to go with Michelle. Maybe she wanted options now that she wasn't stammering in front of Jenny?  
No, Michelle quite liked the idea of going together, Clare could definitely do worse, she was a ride actually and much better than holding out for some straight slag who didn't even know Clare liked her.

She'd almost reached Clare's secret reading spot. Seeing her in her secluded window seat all lost in her book and nervously chewing on her pigtail fixed Michelle's decision. She wasn't backing down now. 

* * *

Clare had been reading the same ?%9!ing page for ages without taking in _anything_ about transfiguring rats into wee statues. What was Michelle thinking! She couldn't back out, Jenny Joyce would never let her live it down, then Erin would pick a fight on Clare's behalf and it's not like those two needed another reason to bicker.

She looked up at a sound but the corridor was empty when her eyes focused enough to take it in. Was that Michelle's hair whipping round the corner?! Great, now she was hallucinating Michelle. Yule ball was going to be a breeze... 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They did not talk about it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude in the Hufflepuff common room

James stared at the little feet hopping about on the enchanted parchment in a great deal of confusion. "How is this _Strip The Willow_ business meant to work? I don't understand this notation at all."  
Orla looked past him intensely. "Well, willow is quite easy to strip actually, but if you're doing any weaving you don't want to strip the branches, you just bend them. Now wands, they strip the willow for _those_. I nearly picked a wand made of willow wood but I like this one better." She waved her wand with a big flourish, and danced away after the sparks it made, pirouetting to the other side of the common room.  


James followed resignedly. "No, I meant the dances we're supposed to know for the ball.. You know what, nevermind.."  
"Oh, the dancing. That's no problem, you just fill the space in the pattern that everyone is making. For these ones you match your partner and if in doubt spin, that always works for me."  
"That doesn't sound right. Maybe I'll just avoid dancing. I'm going on my own anyway, so no one will expect it. Did you hear that Michelle asked Clare to go as her date?"  
"No, not yet, I'll read about it later. Erin _always_ writes her diary before she goes for her fake prefect round, you know, trying to impress Ms. De Brún so she'll pick her for it next year. She's been writing all week about Yule ball dates and imaginary boyfriends, and who will be stripping _her_ willow, if you know what i mean."  
"I don't think Erin would want us to know what you mean. How has she still not learned a spell to protect her diary from you?"  
"She must appreciate my recital skills. They really make her monologues _resonate_." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 300 words and anything Orla were definitely a stretch for me. Hopefully this sets things up okay for further talks though.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They sort of talk about it.

In some bizarre miracle, no one questioned Clare about this Michelle-Yule-ball-date-thing. Maybe everyone bought them being an actual item, or they were busy being jealous that Clare had already snagged a hot date. Half the girls in her dorm were still looking.  
So maybe this could work. Michelle didn't ever need to know Clare fancied her. They'd go to the ball; she wouldn't have to go alone or worse, with a boy; they'd hang out with all their friends anyway and in a few weeks it would all be forgotten.

She caught up with Michelle after their last class and pulled her aside.  
"Hey Michelle, should we talk about the— " Michelle wasn't listening. Clare followed her dumb stare right down to their connected hands. Shit. She snatched her hand back as fast as she could. "Anyway, we should get our stories straight about this Yule ball thing. Like, are we going as friends, what if someone asks if we're dating, what about dance practice?"

* * *

Michelle was still a bit dumbfounded from the hand holding – Clare had a strong grip on her for what a nervous wee thing she was! – but pulled herself together to stop the whirlwind that was Clare on a roll.  
"Okay, no need to overthink this. Don't tell anyone we're going as friends, that's dumb, just say we're not dating because I don't do relationships, there's too many hot people around. And why would we practice dancing, we know how all the dances go."  
"Theoretically we do but do you definitely know the "guy" part, Michelle? Who leads? I don't want everyone to think lesbians can't dance, Michelle!"

So Michelle let herself be pulled into the nearest classroom. It wasn't like she was totally opposed to some private dance time as long as she didn't have to admit it. She floated the desks out of the way and pulled Clare into her arms.  
"Whoa, why are you holding me like— that's very close, actually."  
Michelle ignored Clare's flustered protests and pulled her a bit closer for good measure.  
"Well, do you still want to dance?" She spoke on quickly as Clare nodded. "Well then, we'll have to touch. I figured I'd lead since I'm taller and less of a ball of nerves and isn't it a bit of a stereotype if you get to be the "guy" just because you're the wee lesbian? Right. Come on then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know anything about Irish dancing but given that it's a Hogwarts AU I figured Scottish Country was good.  
> I'm starting to work out where I want this to go but if anyone wants to prompt me something they'd like to see or add some other tropes to the mix let me know.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secret Dance Practice!

Her bluster seemed to put Clare at ease so Michelle spun her out, twirled her back in and spun her right out again. One hand free, she waved her wand to play a reel, dropped the other hand and gave an exaggerated bow as the music swelled.

* * *

They sat down for a moment after going through the patterns of some of the usual dances with relative ease even though they were having to imagine the other dancers in the set.  
"See, it's easy, you'll look great out there with me."  
"You think? I mean, yeah, this is really working out well, isn't it?"  
"It is. Do you want to do a waltz and maybe some polka-ing? I've got my breath back for it anyway."  
"Yes, that sounds good actually. Do you think we can do that lift in the St. Bernard's waltz?"  
"Sure, we can give it a go. Why do you want to though, Clare? Doesn't quite seem like your style. You're not normally that flashy. Not that you're not a fine dancer! We can do this. It's just surprising is all." 

Clare went quiet and something about this moment together made Michelle just watch her and wait. They didn't usually spend time just the two of them without Erin or their other friends. They were often on different side of the argument about what their little group should do and stayed in different houses so there weren't that many opportunities to go off together. But somehow this essentially unnecessary dance practice felt easy and natural just as it felt natural suddenly to give Clare a moment to formulate a serious answer to her not very serious question. 

"Well, Michelle, you know, it's been less hard coming out than I thought it might be but it's still hard. And I don't want any of them to notice me but they will anyway and also I do care and I want people to think well of me. And yes, I'm out and I love our pins but also it's easier while it's abstract, isn't it. — And of course we're not actually dating, Michelle, but a date to the ball is the closest anyone has seen me to actual romance and then they might wonder about lesbian sex and you know what I mean, not even necessarily sex but dating and snogging and such... And I don't want them to think about that and judge it but if anyone is going to look at least I want to look cool. I mean, you're all brash confidence that you only half believe in, Michelle, you must understand what I mean?" 

__

Well, that was more insightful and cutting than she had expected. Clare looked a bit awkward at Michelle's stunned expression and then shifted to that demeanour she got just moments before freaking out or backtracking. That was no good. Michelle played a waltz and pulled her close, effectively moving them out of the awkwardness without dissolving the connection that they had built.

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does it show that i'm a sucker for partner dancing and for working out your feelings through saying them out loud to someone?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More dancing, and they go a-tumbling.

They stepped well together in the closer waltz hold, right back to moving in sync.

When the moment came for the lift variation, Michelle braced, put her hands on Clare's sides and triumphantly lifted her upwards. It would have gone perfectly too, only then she took in the feeling of Clare's hair swooshing past her face on the way and the whiff of shampoo that came with that and almost let go. 

She caught on to her again almost instantly but now she was stumbling, Clare was squeaking her name and suddenly she found herself on the floor, Clare's chest pressed against her neck and Clare's knees somewhat uncomfortably digging into her sides from how tense she was. 

She decided to go for some levity because that was surely better than to get stuck on how this felt great actually and awkwardly being smothered by Clare was more exciting than snogging that lad last Hogsmeade weekend.  
"Right..um..the lifting part went well, and we can wing the landing on Saturday?"

* * *

Clare felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights, her mind racing, her body petrified, knees clamped around Michelle in a vice grip. Just moments ago she was soaring, her jump into the lift buoyed in perfect timing by Michelle's suprisingly strong arms. But then at the top of the movement in that one perfect moment of weightlessness, Michelle had let go for a split second and everything turned to chaos. 

Someone was yelling, Michelle stumbled. Clare grasped for anything she could get a hold of, further destabilising Michelle who sunk to her knees and fell backwards, leaving Clare only a fraction of a second to catch some of her weight on her lower arms in favour of crashing her shoulder and indeed most of her upper body's weight right into Michelle's face. 

So here they were, Clare still in stock-still panic mode, Michelle's heart beating against her — strong enough that she imagined it might be audible if not for the static ringing in her ears — and then Michelle shifted and said:  
"The lifting part went well, and we can wing the landing on Saturday?"  
What! Did she have no care for anything that they'd just talked about? How could she be so blasé? Did she not care about what was going to happen at the ball at all? 

Her own outrage finally propelled Clare into action, jumping up, dusting herself off and huffing off to the window. She was just about ready to give Michelle a piece of her mind when the door swung open, revealing an impatient looking Erin. Upon spotting Clare, her face lit up.  
"There you are! You weren't at the library. What are you doing here? Michelle?!"  
"We were just practising a bit of dancing so we look convincing together at the Yule ball, right Clare?"  
"If you want to look convincing, Clare, you should really practise _kissing_ not dancing. _I_ can help with that, if you'd like an _expert_ experience."  
"Sure. I bet you didn't even kiss Peter, ugh, calling yourself an expert... Clare and I are just fine." 

Clare just watched the tennis-match-like nonsensical conversation between her two friends in a daze and she must have lost touch for a moment there because suddenly out of nowhere Erin sent up a sprig of mistletoe above them, Michelle got that are-you-daring-me-glint in her eye and planted a short but insistent kiss right on Clare's lips.

Before she could react, Erin grabbed her elbow, conceded to Michelle that they probably did indeed not need any practice kissing and pulled Clare off towards the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally a kiss. We might get to the ball next chapter but I make no promises.  
> If anyone is still reading this and has suggestions for what should happen in a common room afterparty let me know and I'll try to put it in.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting ready for the ball!

"I don't know why you have to go with Michelle. I'd have gone with you, you know. I thought _we_ were best friends. I don't know why you picked her."  
"First of all, I didn't pick her, actually. _She_ picked _me_. And second of all, she asked me and she was saving me from a really awkward conversation. You were there and it wasn't like _you_ chipped in to help in any way."  
"I was going to.."  
"Were you though? Anyway, Michelle is kind of hot and don't you have some boy you'd like to go with that you're just waiting to prompt into asking you."  
Shit. She hadn't meant to say that first part out loud. Luckily Erin wasn't that observant about things that didn't involve her.  
" _She's_ kind of hot? What do you mean? Am I not hot? I'm actually very attractive, I'll have you know and—"  
"Yes, whatever, but we've also been best friends since we were really wee so I don't think of you that way. It's actually a bit incesty to me and if you stopped to think about it rather than be competitive, you'll find that you agree with me here, really."  
"... Okay, you're maybe not wrong about that. Let's do this homework, so we can be done with it and just think about the ball all weekend. Do you think Peter has a date yet?"

  


* * *

  


Michelle was left behind in the wake of Erin's energy slightly wondering how she'd got to this point. Neither the earnest dance practising nor the kissing girls or indeed kissing people to reassure them was really her style. She felt great after the kiss though. Very accomplished somehow. Probably just smug about winning the pissing contest with Erin. Anyway, ending up in situations she hadn't foreseen and annoying Erin was totally her style so no point in worrying about it further. For now there was a weekend of partying to look forward to.

  


* * *

  


All ready and dolled up with two hours to go before the ball, Clare wished a little bit that she'd had a proper lie-in.

But everyone in her dorm had been full of nervous energy all day that she'd let herself get swept up in. And maybe she had a habit of going along with things. She liked her dormmates though. There was always someone who'd help you out if you appealed to their ego about being knowledgeable and smart and helpful.

Now she was just sitting around on the edge of the hubbub.There was a lot to turn over in her mind now that nothing else needed to urgently happen. Well, not a lot as such. One thing. The kiss. Over and over again from different angles.

It was not how she thought her first kiss might happen, but then she hadn't imagined getting kissed in high school at all and Michelle is somehow at the centre of any chaos that threatens Clare's plans so why not this one too.

It had been quite thrilling really. Yes, it was over before she'd really taken it in but she could still remember how for a moment everything fell away but for the proximity of Michelle and all the voices in her head quieted before roaring back to life once she was halfway down the hallway with Erin.

And Erin had said practising. Suggesting they'd do it again at the Yule ball to be convincingly on a date. Maybe longer this time. And in public. Well, if that's what it would take, she would be ready. And Michelle was clearly capable. There'd been a lot of intent in her kiss. Clare wouldn't have thought that a pressing together of lips could convery so much feeling in such a short time. For a minute there, she'd gotten all caught up in it, swooning about the romance of being kissed passionately. Then she'd remembered that all the intent had been about shutting Erin up and all the passion was probably a mix of trying to be convincing and of Michelle being a more experienced kisser. She'd have to curtail the swooning enough to keep her wits about her tonight. Maybe she could even wow Michelle right back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo, sorry for the break in posting to anyone who actually follows this. Unsurprisingly writing is hard and I'm getting invested in this story and getting stuck rather than just hitting something out as well as I can.


End file.
